In yet another case of it-didn’t-happen-because-of-the-Internet Identity theft, an Oklahoma identity theft ring has been put out of business by law enforcement authorities.

This gang had an interesting and quite low-tech approach when it came to gathering information on their potential victims. They simply cruised through neighborhoods and wrote down addresses of homes where they thought people with good credit records lived.

Then, with the help of an accomplice who worked at a credit bureau, they were able to match names, personal information and credit card numbers with the addresses and use that information to make fraudulent purchases to the tune of about $135,000 before they were caught.

When their activities in a retail establishment raised suspicions, the cops were alerted and the crooks were arrested.

According to the Secret Service, it takes, on average, 3 to 5 years to repair your credit after being a victim of identity theft.

Frank Abagnale, author and one-time con man who now works the other side of the law, claims that with just a name and address, he can get a person’s social security number, birth date, salary, checking account number and names of relatives in just a few hours.

Although it seemed like it might be overkill, for a while now, I have been shredding everything with the name of anyone in our household and especially anything with a name and address before throwing it away, and now I know there is a good reason to keep on doing it!

Again, we see that crooks can be very resourceful and will only get more so as time goes on. Keep a close watch on your credit card and bank accounts in order to catch someone trying to victimize you as early as possible.

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